The invention relates generally to an electrical component having a hybrid air cooling system and method. More particularly, the invention relates to an electrical component using redundant serial and parallel air flows to dissipate heat generated within the electrical component.
Data storage components typically comprise a plurality of data storage devices, such as disk drives, that mount within a component enclosure. The data storage devices operate at high speeds, generating relatively large amounts of heat that must be dissipated to ensure proper functioning of the devices. Recently, sufficient heat dissipation in such systems has become increasing difficult to achieve due to the current trend toward increased packing density of the data storage devices within the component enclosures. Extremely high packing density increases the amount of heat generated within the system and similarly increases the difficulty of tailoring effective cooling systems to remove this heat.
Conventional data storage systems typically use forced air convection to remove heat generated by the data storage devices within the system. Normally, each data storage component includes a plurality of air movers, such as fans, which draw ambient air over the data storage devices contained within the enclosure and expel the heated air from the component to the ambient air. The air movers are usually arranged in parallel along the rear of the component enclosure such that, if one of the air movers were to fail, one or more other air movers still operate to remove heat generated within the component. When an air mover fails in such systems, however, flow through the adjacent exhaust outlet can reverse due to the influence of the other, still functioning, air movers within the component. In that this reverse air flow can interfere with the airflow within the component enclosure to significantly inhibit the heat dissipation capacity of the cooling system, conventional components often are provided with flapper doors which automatically close when an adjacent air mover fails, to prohibit the flow of air through the exhaust outlet and back into the component enclosure.
Although typically providing enough cooling to the data storage devices when each of the air movers is operating correctly, conventional cooling systems of the type described above do not adequately dissipate heat from the data storage devices when one or more of the air movers fails. In particular, when an air mover fails and its adjacent flapper door closes, air flow within the component in the vicinity of the closed flapper door is greatly reduced, resulting in a concomitant reduction in heat dissipation from the data storage devices in that portion of the component. If the nonfunctioning air mover is not replaced quickly, one or more of the storage devices could overheat, resulting in lost information and even permanent damage to the device. Even when air mover failure is quickly detected, replacement normally requires shut-down of the entire data storage component in that the air movers are not placed in a convenient position for online replacement.
From the above, it can be appreciated that it would be desirable to have an electrical component that includes a cooling system which solves the above-identified problems.
Briefly described, the present invention relates to an electrical component having a hybrid air cooling system. The electrical component comprises a component enclosure including front and rear ends and an air plenum that extends across the width of the component enclosure between the front and rear ends. The component further comprises a first set of air movers positioned in a first lateral position downstream of the air plenum within the component enclosure and a second set of air movers positioned in a second lateral position downstream of the air plenum within the component enclosure such that the first and second sets of air movers are arranged in parallel with each other within the component enclosure. The first and second sets of air movers each typically comprise at least two air movers arranged directly adjacent each other in series. Arranged in this manner, the first and second sets of air movers provide both serial and parallel air flows within the component enclosure to dissipate heat generated therein.
In addition, the invention relates to a method of dissipating heat generated within an electrical component that has a component enclosure including front and rear ends and an air plenum that extends across the width of the component enclosure between the front and rear ends. The method comprises the steps of providing a first set of air movers arranged adjacent each other in series in a first lateral position downstream of the air plenum within the component enclosure and providing a second set of air movers arranged adjacent each other in series in a second lateral position downstream of the air plenum within the component enclosure, wherein the first set of air movers is arranged in parallel with the second set of air movers within the component enclosure such that both serial and parallel air flow is provided within the component enclosure to dissipate heat generated therein.